The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s new Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati makes his season debut in Glasgow’s City Halls and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on 11 and 12 December, with a programme which includes Henze’s Symphony No 1, Brahms’ Symphony No 2 and Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler, performed by mezzo soprano Magdalena Kožená.

Twenty-six year old Robin Ticciati has been Music Director of Glyndebourne on Tour since January 2007 and has recently been appointed Principal Guest Conductor for the Bamberger Symphoniker from 2010. He has already made appearances at La Scala, Milan, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and with the Rotterdam Philharmonic amongst many others. Ticciati began his musical career as a violinist, pianist and percussionist and turned to conducting at the age of 15 under the guidance of Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle, while still a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Robin Ticciati first worked with the SCO in summer 2008 and struck up an immediate rapport with the Orchestra, culminating in his appointment as Principal Conductor. He returned for another Highland’s tour in summer 2009, touring to Strathpeffer, Findhorn and Pitlochry. He will conduct five concert weeks in 2009/10 and eight concert weeks in subsequent seasons. His appointment is for three years in the first instance.

"There has been a tangible sense of excitement in the SCO ever since Robin first appeared with the Orchestra. Following his appointment and the announcement of his first Season programmes, everyone in the organisation has been looking forward to these December performances. The debut concerts with Magdalena Kožená as soloist are an ideal way for our new Principal Conductor to be introduced to audiences in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as music lovers nationwide through the broadcast on BBC Radio Three. This promises to be the start of a very exciting era in the SCO’s history.” - SCO Managing Director, Roy McEwan

For Robin’s first season debuts on 11 and 12 December in Glasgow and Edinburgh, he conducts Henze’s Symphony No 1 and Brahms’ Symphony No 2, and is joined by mezzo soprano Magdalena Kožená for Mahler’s Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Kožená studied at the Brno Conservatoire and with Eva Blahová at the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She was awarded several major prizes in both the Czech Republic and internationally, culminating in the Sixth International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 1995, and was named Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Awards 2004. Kožená has worked with orchestras throughout the world including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. The Glasgow performance of the concert will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 14 December.

SCO Principal Flute, Alison Mitchell, joins Robin for Poulenc’s Flute Sonata in St Andrews on 16 December, and the Orchestra’s featured artist, Karen Cargill, for Berlioz’s Le Mort de Cléopâtre. Cargill and Ticciati are reunited in February for Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ, which also features tenor Yann Beuron and bass Matthew Rose.

Robin returns for music by Ligeti, Mozart and Bartók in February (Edinburgh and Glasgow) and for Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony in April (St Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh), where he is also joined by pianist Tom Poster for Ligeti’s Piano Concerto.

Audiences will have the opportunity to get to know Robin better at pre-concert talks in Glasgow (11 December), St Andrews (16 December), Edinburgh (17 December) and Aberdeen (19 December).

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